Not So Hard To Fall
by angel-death-dealer
Summary: Reed had learned before that the bets they placed when they were drunk included pain and embarrasment, and occassionally, noisy tears. This was not an exception. Completely crazy oneshot. RS


All of the city were asleep in their beds save for the Fantastic Four. The group were gathered in Reed's lab, much to the majority of their annoyance, tending to Sue and Johnny. Reed had chosen to stay away from his lab for the day, and allow himself the rare blessing of an early night considering that they had defeated Doom two days ago. It was just typical that this was the night that Sue and Johnny decided to get drunk and start placing bets

Reed had learned before that the bets they placed when they were drunk included pain and embarrassment, and occasionally, noisy tears. This was not an exception.

Reed stood in the centre, and had Sue sat down on the edge of his desk. He was applying some peroxide to a nasty looking cut on her forehead. He had already given Johnny a piece of gauze to hold to the small, but still bleeding cut on his forehead. Luckily, neither of them would need stitches as they were just very large and nasty grazes. They didn't need any of the publicity that would have come from the Human Torch and the Invisible Woman getting drunk and hurting themselves. Johnny was sat down on a piece of equipment just to the side, clearly sulking, and Ben stood watch around him, making sure that he didn't run off. They had been awaken by the screaming and shouting of the siblings.

"Honestly, Sue." Reed complained into the silence of the caves, which was only broken occasionally with a hiccup. "Will you do anything for a bet?"

"Depends what the bet is." She said, not even wincing at the peroxide cleaning her wound. She was very drunk, Reed could see that because she was crossing her eyes trying to follow the hands on her forehead.

"What was the bet?" He asked her. She had revealed what she had done, but hadn't explained why. He wondered whether it was because it was something completely stupid, or because it was something personal. Sue wasn't one to make bets, especially with her brother. This was something that only happened over something catalytic combining with alcohol.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She said, suddenly becoming very seductive. Ben burst into quiet laughter as she leaned forward and tried to kiss Reed, but he didn't even notice because he had already turned to Johnny.

"How much did you give her to drink?" He asked, getting irritated very easily now with the state that her brother had gotten her in.

Johnny avoided Reed's stare. For some reason, when mildly drunk, he behaved like a scolded child. "...A little.."

"Johnny!" Reed cried out.

"Couple of bottles." He revealed.

"A couple of bottles?" Reed said loudly. "Johnny, she's completely intoxicated!"

"I am not!" Sue protested like a child.

"Sue, sit still, or you'll start the bleeding again." Reed told her, his hands straitening her shoulders so that she wouldn't move again.

This was a mistake. Feeling, in her drunken state, like she was being told off, her bottom lip started to tremble. Reed had only seen her this drunk once before, and started to recall that evening. She got very touchy when she was drunk, in both senses of the word.

"Sue-" He started, trying to repair the damage he had made.

"Why are you so mad at me all the time?" She exploded, bursting into loud cries.

"Sue-" He tried again.

"I was just trying to have some fun. I need a release!" She said, her voice going very high-pitched.

"Sue-"

"Do you know how hard it is to have some fun around here?"

"Sue, your head's-"

"Not like I can just go shopping anymore, is it? Oh no, not now we're superheroes! And I can't exactly come to you for fun. You're always busy! Too busy to go on walks, too busy to talk to people." She burst into drunken tears. "Too busy for me!"

Reed sighed. "Sue, it's been crazy recently, but I'm never too busy for you." He tried to tell her, but, still crying, she was having none of it.

"Yes you are!" She contradicted. "Tell me, Reed! What did I do to make you so mad at me?"

"You didn't do anything." He assured her.

"Then why aren't you talking to me like you used to?"

Reed sighed, again. She was completely hammered. He definitely hadn't seen her this drunk before. In fact, he was starting to think that the only person he had seen this drunk before was his uncle. "Sue, it's the middle of the night." He told her calmly. "No, scratch that," He added, catching sight of his watch. "It's 2.30 in the morning, and not that it really matters, but it's a Sunday morning, and I've got two people brought to me with head wounds, and one of them is stone cold drunk."

Sue calmly and quietly looked at him, then she turned her gaze to Johnny, and then looked back at Reed, dropping her voice to a loud whisper. "Reed, I think you should go easy on him. He's not that drunk." She said, earning more laughs from Ben.

"I'm talking about you, Sue." Reed told her.

"I'm not drunk neither!" She insisted, her voice raising an octave or ten again. Reed fixed her with a glare, and she surrendered. "Okay, maybe a little...but it was Johnny's fault."

"Was not!" Johnny called over.

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Guys, keep it down." Ben scolded them. "The rest of this city is trying to sleep."

Johnny scoffed. "Well, sooooo-rrrrrrry."

"Johnny, shut up." Reed scolded.

Sue laughed. "Ooooo, you're in trouble." She teased.

"Sue, stop encouraging him." Reed said to her tiredly.

Sue hung her head, sulking at also being told off, and Johnny laughed. "Ooooo...you're in trouble, too!" He teased her.

Reed turned to Johnny. "Johnny, what did I just say?"

"Shutting up." He said, going back into his own little world.

Reed turned back to Sue. "Sue, listen to me. No, don't look at the floor. Me." She raised her head. "That's it. Good. Look at me, and listen to me. Now, I need you to sit still for a while. No, don't look at me like that." He said to her pout. "Sit still, and DON'T touch your head. If you do, then the bleeding will start again and - _Suuuuueee_!" He moaned.

She pulled her hand away, and looked at the blood on her fingertips. She smiled and shrugged childishly. "Oops."

"I'll give you 'oops'." Reed muttered under his breath as he retrieved another piece of gauze.

"What was that?" Sue asked.

"Nothing." He lied.

"You're doing it _again_!" She complained, and her bottom lip started to tremble.

"I'm not being horrible, Sue." He assured her. "I just need you not to touch your head, otherwise we'll be here all night."

She frowned, looking rather heartbroken. "Don't you _want _to be here all night with me?" She asked in a tiny whisper.

Johnny leaned over to Ben. "Dude, we should get them both drunk." He suggested. "They'll probably tell each other _everything_."

"Sue, I-"

"Why don't you want to be with me?" She asked. "I try _so _hard to just get you to look my way once in a while. Not much to ask for! Why can't I do anything right with you? Everything I do just makes you mad!" She said, now shouting rather loudly.

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down." Reed said soothingly, one hand on her shoulder to try and calm her.

"I _am _calm!" She shouted.

"You're not calm, you're shouting." He pointed out to her.

"Sorry...I'm having trouble controlling THE VOLUME OF MY VOICE!" She said, shouting as loud as she could.

How car alarms didn't start blaring and babies in the lower part of the building start crying, it was a wonder, because they even heard birds scattering from the window ledge at her noise. Johnny burst out laughing, but Reed ignored him, waiting for Sue's outburst to end before starting again to calm her.

"Sue, was there really any need for that?" He asked her.

She shrugged. "Got you to notice me, didn't it?" She showed him.

Reed turned to Ben. "It's okay." He told them. "I can take it from here."

"Ooooo...someone's getting some action!" Johnny teased.

Reed turned directly to Ben again and nudged in Johnny's direction. "Make sure he gets into his room...do NOT let him leave."

Ben nodded. "No problem." And together, the two left, leaving Reed and Sue alone in the lab.

He turned back to her, seeing the sad look she was giving him. "What is this _really _about, Sue?" He asked her.

"What is _this _really about, Reed?" She asked back.

He sighed, running his hand over his head. "Something I can't understand is why someone as level headed as you would try and walk along the edge of the building's roof." He said, awaiting an explanation.

Sue shrugged. "It was just a game." She told him.

"Sue, you were one hundred feet above the ground." He told her.

She shrugged again, and quieter this time, said: "Was just a game."

"You're a horrible liar when you're drunk, you know that?" He said, giving her a gentle smile that she didn't return. "Sue, you were drunk. You could have knocked yourself out. You could have fallen. You could have _killed _yourself!"

"If I did...would you have missed me?" She asked him.

"God, Sue! You don't have to hurt yourself to get my attention." He told her.

"Yes, I do." She said quietly.

"Why do you think that?" He asked her, dropping his voice again.

"Because I've hurt myself, and it's the first time in a week that I've been alone with you." She said, and Reed realised that she was right. "Just missed you, that's all." She added.

"Why didn't you just say so?" He asked her.

"Because you weren't there. Only Johnny was." Now he was starting to feel bad, because as drunk as she was, she was completely right. "He noticed I was down, gave me some drinks, and then he said that if I could walk around the edge of the entire building then he wouldn't tell you that I was in love with you." She remembered.

"Oh, Susan." He said, and she looked down again, ashamed of her actions. "Wait a minute," He added. "How did Johnny get a head wound if you were the only one doing that?" He asked her.

"When I realised how much it hurt slipping off the wall and hitting my head on the ground, I threw a rock at him because he was laughing." She told him, not changing her tone of voice at all.

Reed let out a small laugh. "What am I going to do with you?" He asked her, stroking her hair down on one side.

"I don't know, Reed, what _are _you going to do?" She asked him seriously.

Reed bit his lip, hesitating for a second, but then speaking once again. "Well, I could kiss you, but you wouldn't remember in the morning. _Or _I could take you into my room and have my wicked way with you, and you'd wake up in the morning, realise what happened, and would kill me. Or, again, you wouldn't remember. _Or_, I could do nothing at all, and just walk away."

Sue nodded, still looking at the ground. "I vote for the wicked way option, that sounds nice." She told him.

"But _instead_," He continued, as if he hadn't heard her. "I'm just going to hold you, because it sounds like you just need a good hug?"

"Doctor Richards' orders?" She asked.

"Doctor Richards' orders." He nodded.

He leaned forward, taking her in his arms and she slowly leaned forward into his embrace. He held her gently, rubbing his hands up and down her back to soothe her until he heard her sigh gently.

"Sue?" He asked.

"You're comfy. Sleep now." She mumbled tiredly.

"No, come on, lets get you to bed first." He insisted.

She shook her head against him. "No, sleep here. You're comfy."

Reed gave in, as she had no intention of moving, and put his arms underneath her, lifting her into his arms. He carried her out of the lab, and into her bedroom, yet when he made to set her in the bed, she didn't let go of him, so he was forced to lay down beside her. He smiled softly as, almost like a child, she turned and cuddled up against him, and closed her eyes whilst she spoke.

"Reed?"

"Yeah?"

"You staying?" She asked him.

"Yeah." He assured her.

"Okay. Reed?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm hungry." She complained.

"We'll get you something in the morning." He told her.

"Okay. Reed?"

"Yeah?"

"My head hurts." She complained in what sounded like a whimper.

He stroked down her hair, careful not to let his hand wander over her aching graze. "That's because you fell off the edge of the roof." He told her.

"Okay. Reed?"

This time, he let out a tiny laugh at her repetitiveness. "Yeah?"

"Love you." She murmured, pressing her face into his chest. "Really do." She added.

If she hadn't been so drunk, he would have poured his heart out to her, and because she was drunk, he expected that she might have done the same if she wasn't so tired. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her properly, to take her in his arms for real and kiss her and kiss her until nothing else mattered. He knew, though, that there was little chance of her remembering much in the morning, so he just smoothed her hair again, latched his arms tighter around her, and kissed the unharmed side of her forehead.

"Love you too, Sue." He whispered, as she shuffled in his arms before settling into a deep sleep with a smile on her lips.

----

"Do we have to do this?" Sue moaned.

"Yes, both of you." Reed insisted.

"But _Reeeeeed_." She groaned, tugging on his hand to get him to stop walking. "I'm tired. My head hurts. I feel sick-"

"Sue-"

"I just want to curl into a ball and _die_." She complained dramatically.

He fixed her with a firm stare. "You're doing this."

"She has a point you know." Johnny piped up from Reed's other side as they stopped walking in the centre of the living room.

Reed glared at him. "The reason she's hung over it because of _you_." He accused him.

Johnny rolled his eyes. "This is _ridiculous_."

"You're doing it." Reed told him.

"But-"

"Do it." He ordered sternly.

Johnny looked at his sister, back at Reed, and then back to Sue, before down at his feet where he kicked the corner of the rug. "I'm sorry I made you walk around the edge of the roof." He apologized, half-heartedly.

"Okay." Reed nodded, satisfied with Johnny's apology. "Sue?"

"I'm sorry the rock I threw didn't give you brain damage."

"_Sue_!" Reed scolded.

"_What_?" She asked, wondering what she had said wrong. "It's the truth."

"Sue." He warned.

"Okay, okay." She sighed. "I'm sorry I threw a rock at your head. And that it didn't give you brain damage." Reed raised an eyebrow at her. "But mainly the first part." She added hastily at his stare.

"Okay, good." Reed nodded again.

"Can I go now?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah, you can." Reed allowed, and Johnny stalked off cursing under his breath. Reed turned to Sue. "Now, was that so bad?"

She nodded. "Yes. It was." She told him. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going back to my bed. I'm severely hung over, and need lots of dark space and quiet."

Sue stalked off to her room, in much the same fashion as Johnny had, but in a different direction. Reed watched her go, and despite her grumbling, he had to admit that he had fallen for her all over again.

Probably as hard as she had fallen off the wall.


End file.
